The year started with Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the then newly elected Chief Minister of Delhi, going on dharna, with the demand of bringing the Delhi police under the state authority. He ended his 32- hour dharna, which was deemed by many as perfectly constitutional but just overly inappropriate, after Lt. Governor, Najeeb Jung, sent on “leave with full pay” two of the five “errant” policemen against whom Kejriwal had demanded action. He then resigned from office on 14th February, 2014, after facing stiff opposition from the other parties to bring the Jan Lok Pal bill into force.
The Andhra Pradesh Re-organization Act was passed in the Lok Sabha on 18th February, 2014, following indecorous behaviour on the part of the parliamentarians, a pepper spray fiasco and a number of suspensions. The Rajya Sabha passed the bill on 20th February, 2014 and the President gave his assent on 1st March, 2014. The new state of Telangana was formed on 2nd June, 2014, as the 29th state of the country with Hyderabad accorded the status of the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for a period of 10 years.
India was officially declared polio-free on March 27th, 2014. It is among the 11 countries in the South East Asian region which were certified as being free from the polio virus.
April saw the largest exercise of democracy in India – the General Elections to the 16th Lok Sabha. Held in nine phases from 7th April to 12th May, 2014, and with the Election Commission of India declaring 814.5 people eligible to vote, this was the longest and largest electoral exercise in the world. The Bharatiya Janata Party won a record high of 282 seats in the Lok Sabha, making it the first time since the 1984 general elections that a party was able to form a government at the Centre without the support. Narendra Modi was elected as the 15th Prime Minster of the Republic of India. This election saw the virtual decimation of the Congress Party as it secured only 44 seats in the lower house. Newbie party, AAP, managed to secure 4 seats in the Lok Sabha.
The Assembly Elections of 2014: In Andhra Pradesh (AP), the TDP-BJP alliance got the majority in the 175-member AP Legislative Assembly while the Telangana Rashtra Samiti secured the majority in the 119-member Telangana Legislative Assembly. These assembly elections were held in April –May and N. Chandrababu Naidu and K. Chandrashekhar Rao became the chief ministers of AP and Telangana, respectively. Arunachal Pradesh assembly election were held in April and saw Nabam Tuki of the Congress resuming the office of CM. Assembly elections of Odisha and Sikkim were held in April and both saw the previous Chief Ministers, Naveen Patnaik from the Biju Janata Dal and Pawan Kumar Chamling from the Sikkim Democratic Front, resuming office. Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP became the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra, while Manohar Lal Khattar, again from the BJP, became the new Chief Minister of Haryana with both these elections (held in October) witnessing the former INC-NCP alliance and the INC government ousted from power. The Jharkhand Assembly elections which were held in December 2014, saw the BJP and its ally AJSU getting a simple majority with their win of 42 seats while the J&K assembly elections held in the same month currently has a hung parliament with the PDP and BJP in the fore.
Union Railway Minister, D.V. Sadananda Gowda, presented his maiden railway budget on 8th July, 2014 seeking to bring about key organizational and structural changes in the Indian Railways. No new increase in passenger fares and freight charges, bullet train in Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector, Diamond quadrilateral for high speed trains, plan to hike speed of trains to 160-200 km/hr in 9 sectors, online booking to support 7,200 tickets per minute; to allow 1.2 lakh users log in simultaneously, reservation system to be revamped, ticket-booking through mobile phones, post offices to be popularized and an online platform for unreserved tickets, are a few of the major changes that the budget focused on.
The Union Budget was tabled on 10th July, 2014 by the Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitely. The Budget announced a roadmap of policy initiatives that could lead the economy to 7-8% growth levels in the next 3-4 years. Composite cap of foreign investment is to be raised to 49 per cent in Defence and Insurance sectors. Rs 4,000 crore has been set aside to increase flow of cheaper credit for affordable housing to the urban poor and Rs. 7,060 crore for the project of developing 100 Smart Cities. The Budget also made an allocation for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to cover every household with sanitation facility by the year 2019. 5 more IIMs, 5 more IITs and 4 more AIIMS like institutions to come up across the country.
On August 15th, during the Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the government would replace the Planning Commission with a new body, bringing the curtains down on the 64-year old institution founded on the former Soviet Union's command-style development model.
In a landmark verdict in August, the Supreme court had said that licenses to the coal blocks were illegal and arbitrary, and a transparent process for their bids was not followed. The Supreme Court on 24th September, cancelled 214 of the 218 coal block allocated by the successive governments since 1993 and gave the companies which were awarded licenses six months to wind up operations. Four of the blocks have been spared, two of which belong to the Steel Authority of India and The National Thermal Power Cooperation. The Supreme Court has ordered the government to re-allocate all cancelled blocks at the end of six months, in March 2015.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojanais a scheme for comprehensive financial inclusion launched by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on 28 August 2014. Run by the Ministry of Finance, on the inauguration day, 1.5 Crore (15 million) bank accounts were opened under this scheme. By September 2014, 3.02 crore accounts were opened, with around 1500 crore (US$240 million) were deposited under the scheme, which also has an option for opening new bank accounts with zero balance.
In September 2014, Kashmir was devastated with raging floods that left 250 dead and many more homeless. The Meteorological department cited torrential rainfall and lack of preparedness as the main cause for the disaster. Both the Jhelum and Chenab rivers rose over the danger mark, causing huge loss to life and property both in India and Pakistan.
Mangalyaan, more formally known as the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), marked India’s first ever expedition to the red planet, with the satellite entering Mar’s orbit on 24th September, 2014, in a historic moment for India’s five decade old space programme, ISRO. With this achievement, India joined USA, Europe and Russia in the elite club of Martian explorers. Mangalyaan was made in just 15 months, at a cost of Rs. 450 crore, the most economical inter-planetary mission undertaken till date.
In September, Jayalalithaa, was convicted and sentenced to four years in jail in an 18 year old corruption case that unseated her from her post, disqualified her immediately as an MLA and can impact the Assembly elections due in 18 months. The 66-year-old AIADMK supremo was also slapped with a fine of Rs 100 crore, highest imposed on any politician, by a special judge John Michael D'Cunha who heard the case of Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets acquired during her first term as chief minister between 1991 and 1996. O Panneerselvam, took over as the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
On 2nd October, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan by wielding the broom himself at Rajghat. It is a national level campaign by the Government of India, covering 4041 statutory towns to clean the streets, roads and infrastructure of the country.
Hud-Hud was a strong cyclonic storm that caused extensive damage and loss of life (109 deaths have been reported) in Eastern India and Nepal in October, 2014. It originated from a low pressure system that formed under the influence of an upper-air cyclonic circulation in the Andaman Sea. Shortly before landfall near Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, Hudhud reached its peak strength with three minute wind speeds of 175 km/h and a minimum central pressure of 960 mbar. The system then drifted northwards towards Uttar Pradesh and Nepal, causing widespread rains in both areas and heavy snowfall in the latter.
The recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize were announced in October, 2014, with Kailash Satyarthi from India and Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan, bagging the coveted prize. While Satyarthi achieved it for his work against child trafficking, Malala was awarded the Nobel for her passionate endorsement of Women’s Education.
The Union cabinet approved Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Najeeb Jung's report recommending the dissolution of Delhi assembly, paving the way for fresh elections in the national capital and ending an eight-month-long political uncertainty.
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, made a number of international trips during 2014. He visited Brazil for the BRICS Summit held in July, USA for the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly in September, Myanmar for the East Asia Summit in November, Australia for the G20 Summit in November and Nepal for the SAARC Summit, also held in November. He also made state visits to Bhutan, Japan and Fiji, following his neighborhood first and act east policy.
The President's Office on 25th December, 2014, conferred the Bharat Ratna award to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (posthumously) and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Mr. Vajpayee was the seventh Prime Minister to receive the award, while Pandit Malviya was the 12th person to be honoured posthumously.
